1/18/2005

A Belated MLK Post...

"[W]henever men and women straighten their backs up, they are going somewhere, because a man can't ride your back unless it is bent." Martin Luther King, one day before his assassination.

Reverend King was a remarkable man, combining powerful oratory with a blinding moral clarity and vision that led him to fight societal racism on the one hand, and black racism and extremism on the other. More than that, King's words remain a rallying-cry to the cause of human dignity and justice, no matter on whose behalf.

In the dark days since his passing, America has never seen his equal. Yet the fight against racism rages on, twisted beyond recognition in ways that Rev. King would have been horrified to see. When Hillary Clinton can say, "If we don't take race as part of our character, then we are kidding ourselves," and be in full agreement with political orthodoxy simply because she is speaking in support of "affirmative action," we may be sure that the old vision of a colorblind society has been pushed to the side in favor of what Ayn Rand called "pressure politics."

How sad it is that both sides of this struggle claim to be acting in the name of Martin Luther King. He himself has already told us what he would have thought of the matter: "I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Sen. Clinton's semantic dodge notwithstanding, it is clear that he meant exactly what he said.